No promises, No demands
by shila1378
Summary: Another mission, another day apart for both of them. They know that they can't make promises they can't keep. No promises, No demands. Partner until death do they part. That is the only promise they can make. Their only demand is for them to be able to say goodbye. Even that they afraid they wouldn't be able to keep. MY WORLD series.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey there…long time no see.**_

_**It has been awhile since my last appearance in FF. Time really flies, isn't it? Posting yet another BlackHawk/Clintasha. It's WIP but I really need to post this, so hope you guys are willing to review for me. BTW, English is not my first language and the work is not beta. **_

_**Well….read on and review. Luv you guys.**_

_**Stay safe uols…**_

_**Shila1378**_

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CHAPTER 1- _'oopppsss….'_

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'Steady..'

The sound of the wind gusting seemed too loud. The moonlight was hidden behind the clouds which were slowly travelling across the sky. Tiny droplets started to drizzle down his neck and face.

'Hawkeye. Can you make the shot?'

Coulson voiced his concern thru his comlink. Clint took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. His aim did not waver but a glimpse of annoyance dance across his tense feature.

'Squawk. Have I ever disappointed you in any way when it comes to completing my mission?'

Coulson could hear the smile and the smirk behind the question.

' Well…there was the time when..'.

Coulson couldn't finish his banter when Clint suddenly cut him off.

'That doesn't count and you know it. It was your fault I have to redirect the arrow. Beside, you …."

Clint suddenly saw a flurry of activities in his eyepiece.

'Target sighted. 2 SUVs with a hummer coming in. Target coming out from the hummer. Lining up my target.'

Clint slowly followed the target and aimed for his head. Being the marked assassin, he would prefer to have his bow and quiver with him now, but the area was secured with motion sensors and heat sensor. The only way for him to take down the target is with his sniper gun, 2000 meters away and high on a very uncomfortable branch of a very tall tree. There were no buildings closed enough to the abandoned building. Clint was aiming his sniper gun on his target. He has been perched up on his nest for the last 12 hours and it was started to rain. He couldn't have asked for a better day.

The target was a highly wanted warlord whom the SHIELD had been monitored and lately had been registering a lot of activities dealing in a high powered arms and SHIELD wanted to know his contacts and to trace back the source of the technology. At first they thought it was Tony's technology that supplying the warlord. Tony was livid and decided to not join the Avengers for this mission. He is currently sulking in his tower.

Fury had ordered Clint to do a recon and report back before he send in all the team. That is why Clint was all alone in this assignment and not even Natasha had opted to accompany him. She just told him to 'get your ass back here before dinner tomorrow'. That was exactly how she put it down when handed Clint his sniper gun.

SHIELD did not want him to kill the warlord but to implant a tracking device on him so that they could monitor his dealings. An impossible feat but considering Clint's talent, a feat he could accomplished successfully. However, he did not anticipate the weather to not sided with him this time around. The night was dark and the wind was picking up speed. The tracking devise was in a special casing that would implant itself deep in his target muscle without really causing the target any harm.

Yeah that's right, ponders Clint. Just shoot the target but don't kill him. Coulson will definitely put this in his Hawkeye-shoot-a- target- and- didn't- kill- him list. Clint chuckled a moment and had to assured Coulson that he is not losing his mind when the agent asked if anything was funny.

Clint minutely shifted his position to accommodate the gusting wind that suddenly picked up speed. The tiny droplets had changed to a bigger droplet and soon it will fall. Clint need to do it now before Nature gave him another challenge to conquer.

Clint placed his finger on the trigger and slowly pulled it back. The sound seemed to explode the same moment a thunder boomed the sky. Clint maintained his steady hold on his gun and released another bullet to give ruse of an attack. The target was seen falling down and clutching his shoulder. A group of bodyguards surrounded him and started to rush him inside the building while others maintained their stance in front of the entrance.

'Mission accomplished. Target down and marked.'

Clint reported into his comm link and started to gather his gear. Coulson voice in his ear verifying that the implant had successfully embedded into the target and had started to run diagnostic.

'You are good to go, Hawkeye. Rendezvous at the extraction point ETA 20 min. Good job Hawk. See you at base" Coulson signed off and the radio was quiet.

Clint slowly unfolded his form, popping his joint and groaning. He looked at his watch and smiled thinking that he could escape Tasha's wrath for not being able to join her for dinner.

Lots of time to prepare her favorite lemon chicken.

Clint smiled to himself as he slowly made his way down the tree.

Another thunder boomed and lightning struck the sky, threatening to split the sky. The rain had really came down hard and the strong wind making Clint's descent all that more difficult with the sniper gun strapped behind his back. He grabbed hold the branch and placed his footholds carefully. Finding all the available bumps on the tree bark, the Hawk eyed the ground which was still quite a distance.

'I wish Tony is here. At least he can take me down swiftly,' Clint mused. A smile crept to his face and he chuckled, remembering all the time Tony took him for a ride during their encounters with whatever 'threat' flavor of the month. He, belatedly, reminded himself that he wouldn't need an extraction because Tony will just blast both of them to base in no time soon.

'That could be nice'

Clint eyed the ground again and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was nearer than before albeit still far away.

Another thunder deafened the night causing Clint to startle out of his musing. Followed with a crack of lightning making the area brightly lit for a few second. A scream was heard and a thud and a booming thunder exploded in the night adding to the howling wind. Somewhere on the ground, a prone figure laid broken and the rain washed away red, sneaking its way on the ground and disappear into the ground.

It was not the thunder after all.

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_**Oppssss…did I just do that in the first chapter?...^^ **_


	2. Chapter 2- Welll

_**Oh dear…did I miss Wednesday…..i mean …last Wednesday…well…**_

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Chapter 2- Wellll…..

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Captain America was lounging reading the latest book given by Clint titled 'The Hurt Locker'. Clint told him about it during their rare time just sharing some quiet down time.

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'The movie was a blast, no pun intended. You should watch it'. Clint said with a glint in his eye.

'We definitely need to put it in our Movie Night watch list and watched it with the team', he added while preparing breakfast t for the Cap and himself yesterday. Both of them were having a time off where else the others are on their separate mission.

Tony was in Madrid with Banner trying to subdue a mad scientist with a ray gun that could turn domestic animals into wild concrete - eating mutant. Not sure why he invented the gun but, duh, mad scientist. Natasha is at the SHIELD base monitoring the situation, replacing Agent Hill, who was down with some nasty infection after her last assignment. Nick Fury did not trust anyone except Hill, Coulson, Natasha and Clint when it came to manning the Helicarrier.

Thor was in Asgard with Jane and Dr Selvig at Odin's invitation.

_Perhaps to get to know future queen of Asgard better_.

Thor was a handful before departure, fidgeting at Jane and everyone else. Steve never see him that nervous and kept on babbling random words out of his mouth. Even Jane was exasperated and quietly asked him to shut up and be calm. Thor smiled nervously and obediently sat down while Jane held his hand. Dr Selvig was smiling and quietly patted Thor's shoulder.

So it was just Clint and himself at the Stark Tower.

And they have lots of time to spend together and Steve did not know what to talk to with Clint. So he spent the better part of the morning in the gym only to return to his room late. After the shower, he ambled down the hallway heading to the kitchen. The smell of food wafting down stopped him midstride. When he continued down, he could hear Clint singing softly amidst clanging of kitchen utensils and sizzling bacon.

_When you love a woman_

_You see your world inside her eyes_

The sound of egg being broken onto a bowl and beaten.

_When you love a woman_

_You know she's standin' by your side_

The popping of the toast and the dripping of coffee maker.

_A joy that lasts forever_

_There's a band of gold that shines waiting_

_Somewhere... oh oh yeah_

Steve rounded the corner and saw Clint so domestically comfortable behind the kitchen counter. He looked up and smile brilliantly at Steve who couldn't help to realize that Clint had a beautiful warm smile that twinkle the edge of his eyes. The grey blue-green eyes looked bright and clear when he looked up at Steve.

_Wow… _Steve blinked.

'Mornin' Cap. Join me for breakfast'. Clint gave him a salute with a wooden spoon.

Steve knew that he was staring at the Hawk. Usually he saw him in his usual attire, the all black Avenger attire. But this morning Clint was in faded blue jeans with torn knees and grey long sleeve lumberjack shirt. His hair was damp, so Steve knew that he was either just got up or like him, fresh from shower after his morning routine.

'Saw you in the gym this morning and I thought, maybe I prepared breakfast for both of us. Hope you don't mind. Just bacon and egg with toast'. Clint smiled again that brilliant beautiful smile at Steve.

He was standing next to the coffee maker waiting to pour himself a cup of coffee.

'Coffee, Cap?' Clint asked. Steve shook himself out of his stupor and smiled at Clint. 'That would be great. Thanks, Agent Barton…I meant, Clint.'

Clint just smirked and poured the Cap and himself coffee. He put the coffee in front of Steve and placed a plate of egg and bacon beside it.

'So what are we going to do today?' He smiled while taking a sip from his cup.

Steve shoved the egg into his mouth to avoid answering him and choked on the tasty savoury taste of it.

'_This is delicious. How did he do it…simple egg tasted heavenly.' _Steve was musing to himself. However, that did not hide the blush that was creeping up his neck and face.

'Err..Cap, everything ok?'

Steve gulped down his coffee and tried to smile to Clint. His eyes blinking and his hand gesturing wildly.

'You ok?' Clint came closer and was patting and rubbing his back gently thinking maybe he choked on his breakfast. He almost knocked Clint's nose when he abruptly stood, startled that he did not realize that Clint had come close to him.

'Wooo…oookkk. Maybe no coffee for you today, Cap'. He quickly grabbed the mug and replaced it with glass of orange juice.

Steve continued blinking stupidly at him.

'Here, drink this instead and read something, ok'. Clint pushed a book at him and started collecting both their plate.

'What is this?' he croaked.

Steve took the book and read the title.

' 'The Hurt Locker'. Hey, Clint, the guy looked like you.'

Clint just snickered and turned to face Steve.

' Yeah, I got that all the time. It's a good book. Maybe it'll tell you something about the war we fought during your slumber, Cap. You know…how 'us' soldiers cope with the stress and all.'

'Agent Barton, Director Fury is on line' Jarvis voice drifted down from…..somewhere. Steve always found that disconcerting. It felt that the AI is eavesdropping all the time. It did not feel right.

'Thank you, Jarvis'. Clint pushed himself from the stool to leave and clapped Steve on his shoulder. 'Enjoy the book, Cap. I know I did'. Steve just looked at him leaving the kitchen.

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And so, that was how the other members of the Avengers found him later that evening.

Steve was so engrossed in the book that he did not realize that Tony was peering behind his shoulder. He gave a startled gasp and sheepishly greeted him.

'Jeez….Cap. Luckily I installed high security gizmo in this tower ,you know ...what with you turning deaf all of a sudden.' Tony wandered down to the other sofa and plopped down. Banner was in the kitchen holding a glass of water and gulping down greedily.

'Uh, Bruce, maybe you want to slow down there buddy. Don't want you to choke and sputter all over my kitchen there.' Tony eyeing Bruce grabbing another glass of water.

'It was so hot and I was thirsty, Tony.' Bruce walked down to the sitting area and look at Steve who went back on reading his book.

'Hi Captain…That's an interesting book. I've seen the film actually.'

Tony glanced up from his copy of magazine and drew his brow, eye squinting at the book Steve was holding.

' Oh yeah. I think I have the DVD somewhere. It was best picture quite a few years back. It beat Avatar. Can you believe it? But the lead actor was incredible, man. Incredible.'

Bruce was looking around the room, noticing something or someone missing.

'Where's Clint? Don't tell me he's nesting somewhere, napping.' Bruce was smiling thinking about the archer. He's becoming rather fond of the archer and the Other Guy seemed quite taken by him also.

'He was called up for duty, yesterday. Fury didn't….' Steve explanations were interrupted by Tony who jumped to his face from his seat and stared at him.

'Are you telling me that you have been left alone for almost 2 days? And you survived? Incredible!' Exclaimed the billionaire, genius, philanthropist and cum IronMan.

'So, why did Clint left you alone, Cap?'

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_**Song from Journey "When You Love A Woman". Can you imagine Jeremy singing this song while making breakfast for you. HEAVAN….sigh..**_

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_**I'll see you guys soon…**_

_**Shila1378**_


	3. Chapter 3

'_**Captain America: The Winter Soldier' was a blast. That's all I want to say. Planning for second and third this weekend.**_

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Chapter 3 – _oh..oh.._

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'Somebody better tell me something. NOW!'

Fury's sounded furious. All the SHIELDs agents that were manning their desks, immediately reached something in order to make them looked like they were doing something incredibly important for the Director. Coulson was perched at his console and looking as cool as ever. He had been trying to get Hawkeye to respond to his sit reps requests. That was one hour ago and so far he only heard static.

And that is not good. He just hoped that things wouldn't got worse.

'Hawkeye, sit rep.'

Still the only sound is static. Coulson started to think that maybe the kid was in trouble. Even if his position is compromised, he will find a way to communicate his position. For the past hour he has been calling Clint until his voice was rough but still the kid had not yet responded to him.

_If anything happens to him, Black Widow will kill me._ Coulson mused silently and continued trying calling Clint.

'Coulson!'

_Speak of the devil._

Coulson visibly cringe when he heard the all too familiar voice spatting his name as such. Only she can turn someone name sounded like a curse or a punishment. This time it sounded more like a 'you-are-about-to-die' tone. He sighed and turned to meet his, and perhaps Hawkeye's, doom.

'How can I help you, Agent Romanov?'

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There was pounding in his head.

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There was pain on his side.

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He was wet and shivering.

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And he couldn't move.

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He couldn't even open his eyes.

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He could hear and felt the wind, the coldness already devouring his being.

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He was cold to his core.

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His ears were ringing and the shrill noise was deafening.

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But he could felt danger and it was closing fast.

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He needed to move and he needed to move NOW….

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Clint breath hitched when he tried to turn his body. He realized that it was still raining and the sky was as dark as the blackest of ink and the cloud were moving as if they are trying to blanket the world with its tendrils.

Clint tried to move again. He groaned when he twisted to lay his hand on the ground. Clumsily he pushed his body up into a sitting position. His world started to shift sideway and his right leg moved to accommodate his balance.

Clint clamped his mouth tight when he felt his ankle throbbed with the movement. His right hand went to touch the ankle but the pain from his arm stopped him short. Clint pried his eyes open. His lid so heavy, he knew he had a concussion.

_At least I'm not seeing double. _

He gingerly pulled himself up onto the tree and lean tiredly on to it. His head felt heavy.

_God that hurts!_

Slowly he peeled his eyes open to examine his painful side. He brought his hand to the side and slowly assessing whatever it is that caused the pain. He felt warmth seeping thru and blinding jab of pain when he pressed further.

A gunshot wound.

He blearily was trying to remember what had happened. He felt so tired and cold. He started to doze off when a sound from his left alerted him. It was a sound of a dog barking. And people, angry people yelling and shouting.

Clint gathered and pushed himself away from the tree. His vision fading, his breath came in gasps. He clamped his hand to his wound and forced his leg to move. He limped with his bad ankle and tried to put distance from the noise that were coming closer and closer.

'Coulson…' Clint whispered hoping that his comm unit was still working.

'Coulson!' Static…..all he heard was static.

'Nat…' he whispered into the night and prayed that he'd be able to see her again.

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Natasha was beyond angry. She was furious.

Этот идиот сделал это снова._ (The idiot had done it again.)_

Her green eyes were swirling and her fiery red hair was bouncing with her every steps. Her mission now is to get to the mission control centre and find the idiot's handler and hope he was smart enough to tell her what she needed to know.

Глупый, глупый, глупый! _(Stupid, stupid, stupid)_

Natasha couldn't understand why Clint had always managed to get himself into trouble...most of the time, during 'easy assignment' as he always fond to refer to.

_Easy my ass…._

The last 'easy assignment' landed him a 3 months rest and Natasha preferred not to hear a whining hawk in her ears anymore.

She quickened her pace and turned the corner before slammed opened the door to the command centre. Her eyes caught the silhouette of her target. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and she took a deep breath before shouting his name.

'Coulson!'.

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Clint managed to find a small stream running towards the deeper wood. Slowly he treaded the water. The rain had stopped and he was shivering violently. His teeth chattered and his headache had continued to escalate. The barking noise seemed had faded away and Clint was glad that he managed to evade the hunt. His side was throbbing and all he wanted was some warm place to rest.

_Natasha's lap would make a great place to rest_, Clint chuckled to himself. _Right, probably just his head will be resting on it. The rest of his body would probably be scattered all over the place._

The thought of Natasha brought his present predicament into a harsh reality. He needed to return to base and to her. He wanted to see her again.

_Don't forget Coulson. _

His reality reminded him. That brought him to halt in the middle of the stream. He had to reach the extraction point by midnight. He didn't think he would have the energy to reach the second extraction point with his wound jabbing his side.

Clint still couldn't understand how he got shot. He knew his vantage point was well secluded and he was there for a day before his target. He tried to remember if he had missed any unusual activities but his mind had started to wander. He took a deep breath and continued wadding the stream slowly.

He looked at his watch. It was 10.50pm and he still had a few miles to cover. He sighed and hoped that the extraction team will be there to pick him up. He just hoped that they wouldn't bring any spiders with them.

_That would be sticky…_ Clint shook his head and smiled.

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'Look Agent Romanov, we lost comm with Agent Barton one hour ago but he had reported success in his mission. We also know that the weather was not conducive for communication…'. Coulson was trying to explain calmly to the Black Widow.

'Not conducive? You mean our high tech gadget courtesy of the most brilliant man in this world known to mankind, 'sputtered, sizzled and die' in the rain? Do you really want me to swallow that, Coulson? You better have another reasons line up in that piece of paper you have been hiding behind your back or so help me….'. Natasha's green eyes dangerously getting smaller, focusing her whole attention to the man in front of him, whose calm eyes and demeanour seemed to mock all her hidden threat.

'Wow…I can't remember the last time you talked that much in one breath, Widow. That was an improvement.' Coulson smiled at her. 'And to hear that you are praising Stark, now that was something else.'

'Coulson….' Natasha let the unheard threat hand in the air and shifted her stance. Coulson smiled again and tipped his head for her to follow him to the counsel.

'We are monitoring his movement, Agent. His comm is downed but his tracking device is still functioning. He's making his way to the next extraction point as we speak and will be there in 30mins. I have already despatched our team to meet him there.' Coulson showed her the blinking blip that was moving steadily on their radar.

She huffed a breath of relief and nodded minutely to her handler before making a swift turn and left the command centre.

'And that is how you handled a tempered tantrum spider.' Coulson smirked and return his attention to his console. His eyes followed the blip and hoped that the blip would move faster because at the rate that it was moving now, suggesting that the Hawk is injured, and no way he'd be able to make it to the extraction point in 30 mins.

'Just get your ass there kid and we will take care the rest.' Coulson prayed that somehow Clint would be able to finish his trek within the time limit. He didn't want to think the kid wouldn't be able to continue to the next extraction point.

'Just be there, kid'. He prayed…he prayed hard.

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_**.Walk faster Clint…**_


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